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Isn’t it wonderful when life is going well? Prospering financially and in many other ways can be extremely enjoyable. It can even help to dull the pain and memories of the bad times. Yet, paradoxically, we can be highly vulnerable during the good times.

Things were going well for Nebuchadnezzar when the story starts in Daniel chapter 4. He was a highly successful leader. In fact, he was the most powerful man of his day. He could have anything he wanted, when he wanted.

Perhaps some of us are doing rather well at the moment. Maybe we’re healthy, enjoying life and feeling pleased with what we’ve achieved. Perhaps we are well-off and able to treat ourselves to all kinds of nice things. In comparison to many others in our world today, of course, most of us are very wealthy, whether we recognise it or not.

Such times are great and can rightly be enjoyed. God isn’t against pleasure or wealth. However, there is a real danger that we think these things are ours by right. We can drift into taking things for granted, or worse, we can think it is purely down to us.

We can all slip into thinking that it is simply by our power, by our abilities that we have gained prosperity and that it is for the sake of our social standing or reputation. We can forget that these things are gifts. Prosperity is a gift, not a “given”.

In Deuteronomy 8 we hear a warning given to Israel not to forget God when times are better, once they have settled in the promised land. We may wonder how on earth they possibly could. They have been through so much and had a massive turnaround in fortunes, going from slavery to prosperity all thanks to what God has done for them.

Yet, God knew and forewarned them that it is too easy to forget the Giver when there are so many gifts to enjoy. It is too easy to overplay our role in getting where we are today. It is too easy to leave God behind, like a pair of old crutches we only needed when our leg was broken.

We can all forget how we came to achieve success. We can forget the role God has played. We can forget that God gives things to bring glory to Himself and to enable us to advance His kingdom, thinking instead that we have earned these things purely for our own enjoyment and to make us look good.

So, God sends warnings. He warned Nebuchadnezzar in strong terms, firstly through a dream and then again through Daniel when the dream was interpreted. Nebuchadnezzar was terrified by the dream. He wanted to know what it was about. His fear suggests that at some level he already had a suspicion or instinct that it was a difficult message for him. When his religious entourage is unable to help he sends for Daniel to interpret the dream.

Daniel interprets the dream, not surprisingly with a little fear himself as this was not good news to deliver to the most powerful man in the world! But, there is a way out, this dream doesn’t have to come true. Daniel tells him that he could yet avoid this nasty chain of events. Nebuchadnezzar could turn to God, turn from doing wrong. He could stop oppressing the poor and weak, instead of being a proud, self-interested and ruthless man.

12 months later, Nebuchadnezzar looks on his prosperous life and turns not to praise God but himself. The warning has not been heeded, the grisly story predicted in the dream begins to unfold and Nebuchadnezzar goes mad and is made to look a fool.

Yet, even then there is a possibility for change, a way out. When Nebuchadnezzar finally turns his eyes to heaven, when he finally gets a heavenly perspective and praises God, he is restored to health and prosperity.

It wasn’t a certain thing that he would find himself back in power with abundant riches. God graciously chose to make that happen. His change of heart didn’t guarantee a good, easy life for him. But, it opened him up to receive the future God had in mind and it served as a vivid example for others.

It was predicted that Israel would face trouble, destruction of some kind, if the people forgot God. It was predicted that Nebuchadnezzar would suffer being humbled under God’s hand if he forgot God and made it all about himself. Sadly, both stories follow the same pattern. There is a warning, but it isn’t heeded and terrible things result.

These stories, amongst others, serve as warnings to us. If the times are good, that is great. But, don’t forget God. You aren’t the centre of the universe and you haven’t made all this happen all by yourself.

We need to be ready to heed the warnings. We need to look to heaven, to get the heavenly perspective before God chooses to humble us. Nobody is beyond being humbled. God can choose to bring any of us down to the ground with a bump, if need be. For some reason God sometimes chooses not to or at least to delay it. But that doesn’t mean we are immune. At some point, we will reap the consequences of our thoughts and actions if we don’t change and turn to God.

Besides the warnings, there is a positive example that has been set for us. Despite having unimaginable power and untold heavenly riches at his disposal, Jesus chose to remember where it all comes from. He chose to use it all for the sake of God’s kingdom and remain incredibly humble, giving thanks and praise to the Father. With his help, so can we.

Similarly to the story of Nebuchadnezzar, the warnings God gives us do not need to lead to something terrible, they do not mean we have to remain under judgement. No, these warnings are opportunities. We can choose to take the opportunities given to us, to grow and turn to God. Our Father is waiting to help us, waiting for us to turn back to Him.

Whatever good gifts we receive, let’s enjoy them and be thankful. Remember, good gifts come from a good Giver. They point us to Him – they are not ends in themselves.

There is little that seems to draw as much controversy within congregations as the thorny issue of “worship”. For some, it seems to be almost synonymous with singing. For others, it might be more of an unspoken state of the heart/mind or a feeling. What is clear is that it is something very important to our identity as Christians, but something we find it hard to agree how to express.

If worship involves describing God’s acts and attributes in some way then it would seem logical to assume that worship will use words – either sung or said. This much we tend to be able to agree upon. However, which form of words should we use? How do we cope with the fact that some will like formal liturgy whereas others will not and some will enjoy older forms of English used in older hymns whilst others like more modern ones?

One possible solution is to have different services that use different forms, e.g. a Book of Common Prayer service and an informal one. However, this risks having the effect of splitting us further into groups that only attend our particular favoured forms of service. Worship effectively only becomes possible in homogeneous groups made up of people who want the same thing. This can end up being a generational divide – older Christians wanting something reminding them of their youth, whilst today’s youth want something that represents their culture more accurately.

How about mixing old and new hymns/songs in a service? This at least has the aim of keeping diverse people together, allowing the body of believers to remain a multi-generational, multi-cultural family. Yet even such an attempt at compromise will itself attract grumbles and some songs will still appeal more to some than others.

Perhaps we should look a little at what lies behind the idea of worship – why do we do it and why do it the way we do? I would like to explore 3 areas – 1. God, 2. Others, 3. Ourselves.

1. God – Firstly, we need to remember that worship is centred around one person and that is God. So often we effectively make out that it is all about me or us by squeezing it into a mould that suits us.

Arguing over the various forms of worship can be a bit like arguing which of the presents people have brought to a birthday party are superior. There is nothing wrong with bringing presents to someone on their birthday. Each one might show recognition of a different facet of the receiver’s character or their relationship with the giver. It might be that nobody else would have thought to bring that gift – it is peculiar to the way one person expresses their love on that day, perhaps. However, if we were to argue perpetually about whose present is “best” whilst effectively ignoring the birthday boy/girl then are we really there for them on their day or are we making it all about ourselves?

God is the only person who is truly worthy of worship. To express this to anyone or anything else is idolatry. God is unique and it is our position to celebrate this, to celebrate God and focus our and other people’s (as well as all creation’s) attention on the Creator. Whilst we argue about worship, are we risking at times destroying its true purpose?

2. Others – Secondly, as I’ve just hinted at above, worship is also about drawing others into worshipping and praising God. Through our worship, others hear of who God is and what God has done and are (hopefully!) drawn to join in. Just as Israel’s obedience was to be a witness to the nations, Israel’s worship (expressed in obedience too, of course) was to stand out and point to the one true God.

Sometimes I wonder if we risk neglecting this aspect of our worship. If it is not sufficiently different and obviously God-centred then it might fail as a counter-cultural witness to those around us. However, equally, if it is not understandable to those who may see and hear us, how are they supposed to join in? Without meaning to single out any particular Christian group, might I suggest one simple example – the use of modern English. If our services are completely in old-fashioned language, how can the youth of today understand and join in?

Is this something that should play a greater role than our personal preferences, perhaps? Maybe we should consider the nature of the community around us and what would speak to them. Maybe we should consider if there is anything about the way we worship that could speak more to others, help them understand who God is and want to worship for themselves? What if we don’t get visitors – does that mean we can do what we like or that we should focus on building up the faithful or that really we should somehow be getting people “into church”?

Our understanding of our identity as congregations and our understanding of mission and how we do it needs to inform our considerations of how we worship. In fact, it already does implicitly – perhaps what we need is to examine our presuppositions and see if our theory and practice match?

3. Ourselves – Thirdly, worship is an expression of ourselves. As such, it is profoundly personal and therefore likely to take as wide a variety of forms as there are not just personality types, but people. Not all of us are “wordy”, not all of us enjoy or express sentiments using music or song and not all of us are able to express our feelings in art, for example. We can each worship God in quite different ways, bringing our own particular gift to the party.

This is all very well, we might think, for our own “private devotions”. You can do what you like at home on your own; but what about corporate worship? Clearly, corporate worship is something that has always been at the heart of the life of God’s people – in the Old & New Testaments and into the centuries beyond. So, what are we to do when we are together? Should we only seek out like-minded people and go homogeneous?

I don’t think this is the answer for a number of reasons, not least the fact that the metaphor of the church as body with members acting as different parts suggests diversity. We can think, too, of the mass of diverse worshippers gathered together in Revelation 7, or the apparent expectation that congregations of believers contain mixed generations (like a family), for example.

The well-known chapters from 1 Corinthians used in debates about “spiritual gifts” suggest that we could (and perhaps should?) express some of our diversity when meeting corporately. Not everyone has the same gifts or personality type, so let’s incorporate opportunities for various gifts and personality-types to find expression when we meet. If the format of services, the words used, the hymns sung and the people involved never change then we will risk only serving up a few of the various “gifts” of worship to God that we as congregations could offer.

To some this might sound like a licence for chaos. However, structure does not have to be completely abandoned and as Paul says in 1 Corinthians, God is a God of order and not chaos so we are still responsible for bringing our contributions in a suitable manner.

There are times in Scripture also when the masses said or sang the same words – the Psalms are a good example of this. It would appear from the New Testament that such corporate acts were not abandoned, but that greater flexibility (as all are now “priests” and able to contribute more directly) entered into their meetings as the Spirit was given room.

We are diverse because God has made us diverse. Worship is something that happens as God’s Spirit works in us and brings us to overflow with praise to God. Because we are different and the gifts He gives are different, the ways that the Spirit leads us to worship will vary.

This becomes a problem as we try to safeguard our own preferences above God being praised, the world being witnessed to and God’s Spirit moving amongst us. It troubles us also, if we are truly honest with ourselves, as it removes us from places of power and control. Perhaps we like certain types of sermons or when a certain person sings, or having the chance to be up front ourselves – but what about if there are others whose gifts are not being given room? Will we be willing to stand aside for a while?

For the sake of others we will sometimes have to take part in worship that is not an immediate reflection of ourselves. Conversely, we would hope that others would support us in raising our worship to God. Corporately we can celebrate God together, gladly offering up a wide variety of gifts of praise rather than cherry-picking what we think are the best ones.

To conclude, I cannot help but notice the risk of perpetuating through this article precisely that same dilemma we have been looking at. My hope is that we can find ways forward, support one another and begin to overcome arguments that divide us and cause many to leave our churches.